When Imus objected to the characterization, Cavett joked, "You didn't think I meant the Ku Klux Klan, did you?" He then added in the next breath, "You would cast him as that in a movie."

Cavett was apparently picking up a riff first road tested on Thursday by pro-Kerry Republican David Gergen, who complained that Miller was a "man of hate" just like his long-ago boss Georgia Gov. Lester Maddox.

Of course, neither Cavett nor Gergen has ever had anything to say about the Senate's only genuine ex-Klansman, Sen. Robert Byrd - apparently because he supports John Kerry.

Cavett, whose claim to sudden relevancy is based on the fact that he hosted a 1971 Vietnam debate between John Kerry and Swiftvet leader John O'Neill, couldn't resist taking an ugly potshot at the man whose book "Unfit for Command" has turned the presidential campaign on its head.

Referring to the Swiftvet's appearance on his show, Cavett explained, "O'Neill had been groomed, entertained and fondled, for all I know, by Nixon and Haldeman."

Editor's note: